


for every dreamer a dream (we're unstoppable)

by seaqueen



Series: 2018 Stanley Cup Champions Collection [1]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: 2018 ECFs, Fluff, M/M, i have a lot of feelings about game 7 and nowhere to put them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-24
Updated: 2018-05-24
Packaged: 2019-05-13 06:20:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14743578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seaqueen/pseuds/seaqueen
Summary: He settles for the ridiculous beaming grin he knows is plastered all over his face as Nicky pulls back, their faces only inches apart and Alex could kiss him right here on the ice; terrible patchy beard and all. There’s the same snapping fire in those well loved green eyes where his center’s staring back at him with his own shit eating grin.One more. One more, baby.Nicky says and the same hunger that beats in Alex’s heart is written all over his face and Alex has never loved him more.





	for every dreamer a dream (we're unstoppable)

**Author's Note:**

> just a bit of fluff because i have _way_ too many emotions about tonight's game 7 win over tampa and absolutely nowhere to put them.

He opens his arms and Nicky glides into him, and for the first time since they charged the ice Alex feels like he can catch his breath. Like the second that Nicky’s in his arms, face tucked against his neck laughing half-hysterically in joy, it feels _real_. He’s not in his own mind and his dreams and that when he blinks it’ll all disappear back into ether from where it came from. They made it - through the third round, past the top seeded team in the East, and they’re going to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Alex wants it so badly he can taste it.

Nicky tucks sweaty affection against the curve of his neck, and _god_ \- Alex is ready to roar. They’re not there yet, not all way but it’s another win and another thing to hold up and say _look at what we’ve done._ To hold up to everyone who’d called for him to be traded last off season, for everyone who said the window was closed, that the time for rebuilding was now and it’d be years and well past Alex’s time in the league before they ever made a deep run again if ever. Something to shatter the shackles of the old narratives that have plagued his team for years.

He settles for the ridiculous beaming grin he knows is plastered all over his face as Nicky pulls back, their faces only inches apart and Alex could kiss him right here on the ice; terrible patchy beard and all. There’s the same snapping fire in those well loved green eyes where his center’s staring back at him with his own shit eating grin. _One more. One more, baby._ Nicky says and the same hunger that beats in Alex’s heart is written all over his face and Alex has never loved him more.

The emotion drops off Nicky’s face immediately as he suddenly remembers they aren’t alone in their bedroom, that he can’t pin Alex down and take him apart, and even more when he remembers that they’re surrounded on all sides by cameras and people who aren’t team. Alex wants to dig his fingers into those sweaty red-gold curls and kiss him and laugh and spin him - they made it and they made it _together_ , after all this time still here side by side. Through injuries and streaks of losses when it seemed impossible and Nicky being gone; but too through old enemies and on the backs of wide eyed rookies and with an unshakeable faith in who they are and where they’re going.

There’s an interview with Pierre in there somewhere, and more hugs than he knows what to do with as he reaches out for anyone he can get his hands on and tell them how much he loves them, how much he adores every single last one of them; and then Alex’s hands are on the Prince of Wales trophy.

Then he’s spinning and skating back to his boys, to his _team_ , and they’re gathering around him to take a picture because they’re the Eastern Conference Champions.

Everything after that is a blur.

Different moments stand out from the haze of joy. He remembers taking pictures with Nicky and other teammates in the locker room with the trophy. He remembers getting too choked up and overcome with emotion to properly talk about Nicky and trying to pass it off to Holts - and his goalie’s fond smile - and he remembers the raucous party that is the team bus as they gallop out of Amalie and head for the airport. The trophy gets a place of honor at his side for the short ride and then Alex doesn’t let it out of his sight or his hands until they’re closing the plane doors and he can raise it above his head and let the roaring crescendo of everyone’s euphoria wash over him from this team he loves so much.

“Hey Ovi pass it here!” Alex hears, though it’s impossible to pick out whose voice it is, and Zhenya’s hands are the one taking the trophy lovingly from his hands. Alex laughs as he lets it go, swooping down to press a messy kiss first to its cool silver surface and then to the center of Zhenya’s forehead much to his mock annoyance. And then he goes to find his partner.

Nicky moves his legs off the seat and then slides just enough to let Alex in, before he leans in to rest against Alex’s side. “Stanley Cup Finals.” He whispers against Alex’s ear, the tip of his nose nudging against the shell of it, and Alex feels a bit like his face is going to fall off from grinning so hard so continuously.

Alex pulls back just the slightest bit, just to look at him.

He’s still a damp mess, hair a tangled riot that looks like it hasn’t seen a brush in a decade, beard still a patchy disastrous thing, and the wrap is back on his hand. But he’s grinning with wild abandon now that they’re alone and his eyes are bright with every bit of joy that reflects what lives in Alex’s heart. “Finally. Only take eleven years.” The Russian teases, and it earns him a light cuff and a roll of Nicky’s eyes at having his own words reflected back at him.

It’s the easiest thing in the world to kiss him.

To kiss this beautiful, perfect, crazy man who’s been at Alex’s side from the very beginning and will still be at his side until the very end - through victories and crushing defeats, weathered storms and climbed mountains and built a team together even as coaches and linemates and general managers came and went because at the end of the day there was always Nicky. Nicky, with his perfect passes who saw the game clearer than anyone else and who’s always seen Alex clearer than anyone else too. So Alex kisses him and Nicky lets him, twisting and deepening it in a way he never allows in public because they’re _that much closer_.

He rests his forehead against Nicky’s and exhales. “One more. One more, baby.” Alex says softly, and Nicky turns that perfect, blinding smile on him.


End file.
